Compared to rival offerings the Pentax easily holds its own. Against the Canon EOS 100D (Rebel SL1) the individual sensor scores easily favor the Pentax, though bear in mind Canon are pushing their sensor tech in an additional direction its ‘Hybrid CMOS AF II” system, which uses a number of dedicated pixels for phase detection AF.

The Canon sensor also has a slightly higher pixel count and a smaller surface area (22.3x14.9mm against 23.7x15.7mm for Pentax). Against the Nikon D3200 the scores are very close but, given the higher pixel count (and potentially higher resolving power), the Nikon would have the edge.

Further readings for the Pentax K-500 review:pared down specification, pared down performance?

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